| Author | Message | ||
     Ghost12 |
Something completely distracted me when I got off my bike yesterday and I walked away from the bike with the keys in the ignition and on. Lights on everything. I was worried because I couldn't find my keys last night so I go out to the bike and discover this. I thought it was just a dead battery. So I went to jump it off today with my truck it still does nothing, no sign of life. I tried rollstrating it and still nothing. Also the cap on the battery tender wire coming off the battery was off and the fuse was shot. None of the other fuses seem to be shot. Please help | ||
| Nuts4mc |
a) when you jump it do the lights come on? ...if not - look at the fuses again b) is it the original battery?...you may need a new one...these battery's don't like to be completely drained...and then expected to come back to life. c)is the kill switch "on"?/is the key on? d) are the battery terminal connections clean and tight? good luck | ||
| Sprintst |
Jumping a dead battery may start the bike, but the battery is still empty I would throw the battery on a charger and see what happens. Run voltage checks before and after It's very likely the battery is shot. They are very tender today | ||
| Rogue_biker |
I believe today's modern engines will not run on a completely drained battery. If you did manage to start it, it may die immediately after you disconnect the jumper cables. | ||
| Ghost12 |
Nuts A. No the lights did not come on when I hooked up the jumper cables. B. I'm not sure if the battery is original or not. Im the second owner and it was purchased in nov. 2009 C. Yes. I've rocked the kill switch back and forth several times with no sign of life. D. I think the battery terminals are fine. I'm gonna go mess with those now. Let me reiterate I can't get the bike to do anything. No lights no display no sounds from the fuel pump. Seems to me like I may have tripped something. Even if you hook jumper cables up to a dead battery you will get something, right? | ||
| Jdugger |
fuse or loose connection. | ||
| Sprintst |
Not necessarily. Dead batteries can short internally. Again, I would put it on a good charger and see. A good charger will pull an error code if the battery is shorted internally. You can't really diagnose anything until you know you have a fully charged, good battery. | ||
| Nuts4mc |
Mr. G12 a) jumped battery with key "On" but not pushing the starter button should give you lights...gotta be a fuse...look harder b) you reported the charging "pigtail" as having it's "cap off" - I believe the exposed terminal is ground (-)...should not be an issue c) the OEM battery has the HD company name on it the terminal lugs on the battery are "special" and work with the cables to fit in the chassis without a possible short. If the battery is not OEM - the terminal lugs on the battery can come close to the frame on the (+) post - check and see if it is shorting out. d) since you have reiterated that the power isn't making a connection to anything ..it sounds like a blown fuse, but leaving your key on should not blow a fuse...check those battery cable's connections...sounds like a "mechanical connection" ( screw type terminal /push type connector) is loose or broken again good luck | ||
| Ghost12 |
I think it was a fuse. I'm very embarrassed now. I could have swore that I took out every fuse and looked at it earlier. I guess I missed one. The "battery" 30 a fuse was blown. I'm gonna go to the store now and get a fuse and we"ll see if that fixes it. | ||
| Duphuckincati |
Good reason to not use the kill switch to turn the bike off. | ||
| Ghost12 |
Well that didn't do it. I replaced the fuse and the new one blew as soon as turned the key. Any suggestions? | ||
| Nuts4mc |
a) make sure the battery terminal connections are NOT shorted to the frame....is (+) cable touching the frame? b) the WIRE HARNESS from the key switch has been known to have issues - try turning the bars all the way one way and replace the fuse...did it blow? if not... turn it the other way - chk the fuse (again) c) the charging system is marginal - look for burned YELLOW wires (3) coming from the voltage regulator and/or the engine...chk the wires/connector coming from the VR going to the battery...Good luck | ||
| Jules |
It's still possible you could have a dead short in the battery (as has been mentioned before). I assume you haven't put it on a charger yet (or have you?) | ||
| Sprintst |
battery was drained dry hasn't been charged Occum's Razor - the simplest answer is probably the right one. I'd take care of that before chasing fuses, grounds, wiring, etc... | ||
| Ghost12 |
No Charger. I'm at college and don't have much to work with | ||
| Pwillikers |
Also, debugging a short can be a pain in the ass. You'll run through a lot of fuses and not diagnose the problem. If you bypass the blown fuse's fused link with a high wattage bulb (like a sealed beam headlight) it will become the load in the shorted circuit - essentially, put the bulb in the circuit in place of the fused link. It'll light up nice and bright and stay on when the short circuit is present and go dim when you correct the short. | ||
| Motorhead102482 |
You didn't hook the battery up backwards by chance did you? I'm not sure it's really easy to do on these bikes, but definitely possible. If you didn't pull the battery out at all, it's probably not the case. Take your battery to a parts store (autozone, oreilly's, etc.) They will charge your battery for free and tell you if it's bad or not. | ||
| Motorhead102482 |
Here is something you could maybe try at your own risk. With someone's car and jumper cables, the car off, hook up the connectors to your battery to the jumper cables (not touching each other or anything metal) without the connectors being on the battery. hook up the cables to the person's car battery with the car off. Turn your key to the run position on your motorcycles and see if the lights come on. If the lights come on, it's your battery that's messed up. If the fuse blows again, you have an electrical short in your wiring somewhere. | ||
| Sprintst |
Motorhead has it right, imo Just pull the battery, take it to autoparts, get it charged and checked. Once you have a charged, reliable battery, then you can see what problems you may or may not have (Message edited by sprintst on October 05, 2011) | ||
| Orman1649 |
Same exact thing happened to me. The VR was shorted out. | ||
| Ghost12 |
Thanks guys for all the support. I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to y'all yet ive just been slammed with school and work. I got a new battery and it quit blowing fuses and started up just fine no more trouble. Thanks again | ||
| Sprintst |
Lol Glad it's working. As I said, try the simpliest solution first | ||
| Ghost12 |
I agree. I've never had a battery do that on me so I was just freaking out. |
